IBM Corp yesterday extended the mid-range of its mid-range air-cooled ES/9000 mainframe line with a new 9121 Model 522. The 522 includes the additional channels and increases in central and expanded storage announced on February 9, plus the new Hardware-Assisted Data Compression, Escon Multiple Image Facility, Asynchronous Pageout Facility, and Logical String Assist. It is a two-way multiprocessor and ships this month, with upgrades from the 320-based 260 and 320 and 511-based 411 in February. The justification for the machine’s existence is that it lowers the entry point to a multiprocessing environment. It offers up to 512Mb main storage and up to 4Gb Expanded either side. IBM says it supports single image or physically-partitioned operations at a lower entry point than currently available in the 511-based machines – there is currently only the similar 521, a dyadic that can’t be run as two separate machines. There is of course no price – but the machine does qualify for standard discounts.
